Arts programs to be reviewed by Alberta Education

Many Albertans are passionate about and inspired by the arts through music, dance, drama, or visual art. Some of the most active members of this province’s arts community are youth, and their involvement in the arts often starts in school.

Alberta Education is reviewing arts programs to ensure they are current and relevant for students. This is important because art evolves across cultures and changes over time, bringing in new forms of expression, new artistic tools, and new technologies. The current arts curriculum is more than 20 years old, and, while it is an adept program of studies, it needs to be updated. For example, under the current provincial curriculum, dance is not recognized as a form of artistic expression, although it is taught in some schools using supplementary resources.

After preliminary research and consultation with various stakeholders, Education developed the Draft K-12 Arts Education Curriculum Framework (June 2009). It proposes enhanced arts programs and places a greater emphasis on student creativity, critical thinking, and the ability to communicate through various ways. The framework presents a possible structure that would enable elementary school students to experience a broader range of arts disciplines – music, dance, drama and visual art – and would empower junior and senior high school students with increased course choice and flexibility. This structure would retain the traditions and rigour of each discipline, while also infusing the arts across other subject areas.

The draft framework proposes maintaining current courses that provide focused instruction in a specific arts discipline. In any future arts program of study, students will still have the option of enrolling in courses like full-year or half-year courses such as band or drama at the 7-9 and 10-30 levels. The draft framework also calls for maintaining the 7-9 and 10-30 course streams for students seeking mastery in a particular field of the arts, and expanding the curriculum to enable students interested in receiving instruction in greater breadth (and perhaps less depth) in a variety of arts courses to do so as well. Under the proposed new framework, high schools will also have the option of offering one-credit courses in dance, drama, music and visual art.

One-credit arts courses would enable students who were previously unfamiliar with the fine arts to explore new areas of interest and perhaps awaken their passions in these areas. Students who develop an interest in a particular discipline through the one-credit courses would then have the option of pursuing their interests in greater depth through three and five-credit courses at the 10-30 levels. Schools would have the option of determining their own Arts Education course combinations by joining single-credit courses together to create three and five-credit courses, to respond to their program needs and instructional expertise, as well as student interests and career aspirations.

Albertans can review and are encouraged to provide feedback on the draft framework until January 31, 2010. To view the document, along with online discussion questions and regular updates on Arts Education, visit www.education.alberta.ca and click on the ‘Fine Arts Curriculum Review’ feature. All suggestions and comments will be carefully considered during future revisions to the proposed framework and the subsequent development of programs of study.

The arts curriculum review started three years ago, and it is anticipated that implementation of the new curriculum could start sometime in 2014.

Dave Quest is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Strathcona Constituency. If you have any comments or questions concerning this column or other provincial government issues, please contact Dave at his constituency office located at #168 – 2301 Premier Way, Sherwood Park, T8H 2K8. Telephone: 780.416.2492 or email: Strathcona@assembly.ab.ca